It is known to mount electrical and/or optical telecommunication modules on sliding trays in a shelf or on a rack or other similar support. The trays may be individually mounted on the support or may comprise part of a shelf with a housing for supporting the trays which housing mounts to the rack or support. Such trays generally comprise a body portion for supporting the modules and a projecting trough for supporting cables or “patch cords” that are plugged into jacks in the modules. The trough may also include retaining rings to help organize and guide individual ones or bundles of the cables or cords.
It is often desirable to space openings in the modules closely to increase the density of the patch cords that can be connected thereto. This leaves very little room on the modules themselves to label the modules or their individual jacks. It can therefore be difficult to determine where a patch cord should be inserted or how a particular patch cord is connected merely by looking at the patch cords and modules. Moreover, even with the use of retaining rings, and especially when a large number of patch cords are present, it is possible to snag or pinch various ones of the patch cords when sliding trays into and out of a shelf or support, either on the tray being moved or on an adjacent tray. It would therefore be desirable to provide a sliding tray that both reduces the likelihood of snagging cords while at the same time provides additional surface area for labeling the modules, jacks and/or the patch cords connected thereto.